SNDBT has a rich history of producing some of the best young paddlers in this country over the years. 2017 is set to be another fantastic year!
Erin Hall, age 14 of St Neots first started paddling only 6 months ago with us and our Spartans Junior Team. We are proud to say that she will be attending and taking part in the World Championships, France in July 2017.
SNDBT have had juniors as part of the team for years but our Spartans Junior Team is new.
Our first GB Spartan has hit a home run and is proudly sporting a gold medal after Team GB won gold in the World 200m Junior championships in France
25 year old Rachel Elliott, originally from Trimdon, County Durham moved to St Neots early in 2015 to further her career as an Assistant Clinical Psychologist with the NHS. She joined St Neots Dragon Boat Team in July 2015 primarily as a means of meeting people and enjoying some social exercise. Shortly after joining the club, she got an opportunity to train with the Great Britain National Dragon Boat Team initially as an opportunity to receive some extra training and see wha…t National representation entailed. Rachel seized the opportunity and earned a GB call up to the EDBF European Championship squad held in Rome in August 2016 where she won a silver medal in the 500 metres Mixed 10 person boat event.
The Great Britain national team were recently invited to attend the IDBF 2nd World Cup in Wujin, China from 19th to 24th October.
Rachel said of her call up, ‘I joined the St Neots Dragon Boat Team simply to make friends when I moved to the area. To be able to develop as a paddler and within the year be selected for the national squad was such an achievement. I was so proud to represent my country in Rome, where we won a bronze and a silver medal and now to go onto compete in China is beyond anything I could have imagined!’
SNDBT Crew Captain Ian Knibbs said of Rachel’s achievement, ‘Rachel is a perfect example of everything the St Neots Dragon Boat Team stands for, our primary aim is to have a social and fun environment for the people from the St Neots area to come and enjoy one of the most fun, growing sports in the world. Within this, we are also exceptionally proud of the number of paddlers we continue to produce to compete on the National Stage. We truly believe in supporting all our members to become the best that they want to be.’
Whether you aspire to compete on the national stage, or are just interested in a fun and sociable hobby, the St Neots Dragon Boat Team are always on the lookout for new members of any age, prior experience is not necessary. If you are interested in giving the sport a try, contact us on Facebook, email info@stneotsdbt.co.uk or visit our website: www.stneotsdbt.co.uk for more information.
SNDBT are very proud of you Rachel and what you have achieved.
Photo attached – Rachel Elliott with her 500m Mixed 10 Person Boat Silver medal from the 2016 European Championships in Rome held in August
Well done to all the GB teams members who represented our country and their parent clubs at the 12th European National Championships in Rome. SNDBT were honoured and privileged to have hosted you for training events throughout the build up to an amazing competition for Team GB. You’ve inspired and motivated us, watch this space for SNDBT members fighting to take part at the 2017 China Worlds
SNDBT turn 18 this year!! Here is the first shot of the team way back then (August bank holiday 1997) 18 years is a long time for any team and we have some fond memories from all these years that have gone by. It makes us one of the most established Dragon Boat Teams in the country and we are proud to say we have original team members still paddling to this day.
Reaching this mile stone is a true test of time and a result of the passion, dedication, blood, sweat and tears that the management and paddlers of this club give in the name of sport and fun. Want to come and see what has kept us going for this amount of time? Just message us and well get right back to you!
On Saturday 27th September, 18 crew members from St Neots Dragon Boat Team completed an epic river marathon, battling the current and tide of the River Thames as part of the Great River Race.
The race course runs a gruelling 21.6 miles starting from London Docklands and finishing in Ham in Surrey. The team, set off across the start line 336th out of the 338 boats in the competition and completed the course in the 83rd fastest time on the day, an impressive 2 hours 40 minutes and 8 seconds, overtaking 117 other vessels and crews in the process.
The crew opted to use the race as a team challenge to raise money for Addenbrookes Charitable Trust, in particular for Haematology Wing E10 in which crew member and Great River Race competitor Rachel Wallis is a junior sister, and in support of another crew member and paddler Damian Stone who has been receiving treatment on the ward. As of Monday 29th September the crew had raised an impressive £1250 for the cause.
The race represented significant personal challenges for the entire crew, none more so than paddler Ben Daines who a little over 2 years ago had half a lung removed. Ben said of the day ‘Saturday 27th Sept 2014 will stay with me until my last breath. What a totally awesome and emotional day! 27 months ago in Papworth I wouldn’t have thought it physically possibly to paddle 200m, today we’ve just smashed 22 miles! Thank you for all believing in me and letting me share it with such a great bunch of people. We did it!!’
Special thanks from the whole crew go to The Flag Workshop, Craftman Flagmakers from St Neots who provided a custom flag for the team, proudly presenting the town and team’s name to the thousands of spectators lining the bridges and banks along the course.
St Neots Dragon Boat Team rounded off their league season in style picking up silverware with a convincing win in the 500 metre Major Plate Final at the BDA’s London Albert Dock Regatta on August 31st. The team’s racing season is due to conclude across the weekend of the 20/21 September with the BDA National Cup competition covering racing distances of 250 metres, 500 metres and 1,000 metres.
With the racing season almost over, crew manager Dan Clarke has been busy organising the next challenge for the club, with the crew set to represent the town in the 2014 Great River Race;
London’s River Marathon, it is a spectacular 22 mile boat race up the River Thames attracting over 300 crews from all over the globe, appealing to every level of competitor from those seeking a personal challenge, to serious sportsmen and women out to win their vessel class.
SNDBT are using the opportunity to raise some much needed funds for Addenbrookes Haemotology Day Unit ward, E10 who treat people with blood disorders such as leukaemia, lymphoma, myeloma and MDS and do curative, supportive and palliative care.
Clarke explained, ‘Competing in a river marathon requires a very different level of training to sprint race distances with a focus on strength and stamina. As a club we feel it is very important to give back to the community we represent and we took a joint decision this season that some of our sprint racing results may be slightly compromised in order to invest support in activities such as the St Neots Charity Regatta and to keep a keen focus on our distance preparations for the Great River Race. We have two very good reasons to raise money for E10 ward. Crew member, Rachel Wallis who has been paddling with us since 2008 is a junior sister on the ward and she will be one of the competing members for this year’s team in the GRR.
Another SNDBT paddler, Damian Stone has been a patient on the ward and has received fantastic treatment from the staff there who perform amazing work. Damo has paddled for us for many years and we sincerely hope to have him back in our boat very soon once he has recovered.’
St Neots Dragon Boat Team are set to compete in London’s 22 Mile Great River Race to raise money for Addenbrookes Haemotology Ward E10 on Saturday September 27.
The sun shone brightly on a new dawn for Dragon Boat racing in St Neots this weekend. St Neots Dragon Boat Team hosted both the GB national teams under 18 training squad on Saturday and on Sunday the town’s first ever British Dragon Boat Association (BDA) National League event. 20 league teams from across the country entered the competition with a race schedule including 200m, 400m and a special 2km pursuit race on the Great Ouse between Lammas Meadow and Regatta Meadow.
Crew Manager Dan Clarke reviewed the weekend, “We have been working for almost 15 years to enter our town into the BDA national calendar, and I am certain that it is a direct result of the relationships we have built up within the BDA, through our support and hosting of the GB National Team training squads that finally enabled us to secure this event. The feedback we have received so far from both the league organisers and crew managers from the opposing teams has been incredible, as with our sporting performances, we are always looking to improve and we already have some thoughts as to how we can make the event bigger and better in future years. I am very confident that St Neots will be a permanent fixture on the BDA annual race calendar and one that all the biggest and best crews in the country relish attending.”
In another first for the town’s club, St Neots Dragon Boat team were able to enter two race day crews into the event, with both a BDA Premier league crew and a scratch team entering the line-up. Although neither of the host club’s crews picked up a trophy on the day, Dan Clarke enthused, “this is very much a transitional season for us, our paddling membership has grown massively this year with more than 20 brand new racing members coming aboard for whom it is crucial we earn them race day experience in a fun and low pressure environment. Our primary aim was always to grow the sport in the town and we are delighted at just how well we are progressing in doing this. Being able to enter two race crews with substitute’s places us firmly on track to meet our annual team objectives, most importantly, the atmosphere around the club is the best is has been in more than 5 years with everyone pulling together, enjoying what we are doing and enthusiastic to keep developing themselves and the sport.”
The crew has no time to rest and take stock of their successes as they now look to support the town’s Charity Regatta, to be held on Regatta Meadow on August 9th. The next few weekends will see St Neots Dragon Boat Team providing coaching and training to between 200 and 300 members of the charity crews to be in attendance. There is still time to enter a crew into the charity regatta for more information and an entry form, please contact St Neots Town Council on 01480 388912
